Ciorba Wins 2024 ACEC Indiana Excellence State Finalist Award

The American Council of Engineering Companies of Indiana announced Engineering Excellence Awards for 2024, selecting Ciorba for the US 20/US 31 for a State Finalist Award in Transportation. ACEC’s annual Engineering Excellence Awards competition recognizes engineering firms for projects that demonstrate an exceptional degree of innovation, complexity, achievement, and value.

Ciorba Group was the prime consultant providing preliminary engineering and final design for the replacement of the existing US 20 bridge over US 31 with a new two-span bridge and improved interchange geometrics.

The replacement of the US 20 bridge over US 31 in South Bend was necessary due to the poor condition of the existing bridge as well as the substandard vertical clearance over US 31. The substandard vertical clearance resulted in repeated hits to the beams with the need for subsequent repairs. The new two span structure has an individual span length less than the maximum span length of the previous bridge. The reduced span length allows for a shallower superstructure depth to increase the vertical clearance. The profile of US 20 was raised and the US 31 pavement below the bridge was also reprofiled (lowered) and reconstructed to further increase the vertical clearance and meet current standards. The project required a complex maintenance of traffic scheme to keep traffic flowing safely through the interchange and the ramps during all stages of construction. Aesthetic improvements were part of this project and were coordinated with the City of South Bend as this project is a gateway to the City.

Ciorba Group was also honored to have been part of the North Split Design Build team, alongside HTNB Corporation, that was awarded the 2024 Grand Project Award  and Janssen & Spaans Engineering Group that received a Honor Award, both for work on the I-70/I-65 North Split Interchange project. We extend our congratulations to all the award winners and express our gratitude for the opportunity to contribute to these projects.